“Corruption on Earth” according to the Iranian government is a serious crime. In Iran, it is synonymous to someone attempting to overthrow the government.
Rouhollah Zam, an Iranian journalist was executed on Saturday, 11th December 2020, after he was accused of using his online opposition news site- “Amad news” to incite violence during deadly protests in 2017 and 2018.
Zam’s death has caused so much outrage in the whole of Iran and other parts of the world, as it was gathered that he was illegally kidnapped, arrested, and tried in an unfair manner. It was also gathered that countless efforts to overturn his death sentence proved abortive.
The European Union (EU) which believes that the death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent to crime and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity, has however condemned the execution. They called on Iran to refrain from any future executions and to pursue a consistent policy towards the abolition of the death penalty. They also charged the Iranian authorities to uphold the due process rights of accused individuals and to cease the practice of using televised confessions to establish and promote their guilt.
Source: CNN
